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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 2024).

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Friday, August 09, 2024

Album review: Art Themen Organ Trio - Live in Soho (Ubuntu Music)

Art Themen (tenor/alto sax); Pete Whittaker (organ, piano); George Double (drums)

After Art's recent storming and successful session at the Globe - a night that will go down in the venue's folk-lore - I looked forward to hearing more of Art Themen and, with this album, my wish was granted and I wasn't disappointed.

The classic organ trio line-up, so beloved back in the day by the bods at Blue Note, on this groove-laden live recording is up there in contention with the greats of the past, present and future. However, it's not all soulful funk. There's an eclectic mix of Latin, ballads, hard bop and some that avoid categorisation, all performed to perfection by three masters of their craft.

Chili Peppers: A tuneful riff composed by Duke Pearson has all three cutting loose with juke joint tenor,  groovin' B3 and kickass drums - definitely one to get your timbers etc. shivering on the dance floor.

Brahms...I Think: Zoot Sims...I think was semi-responsible for this strange, yet captivating piece that probably first saw the light of day in Germany. It bears a passing resemblance to a familiar classical piece but, as Brahms didn't score it for soprano sax over a bossa nova beat (shame on you Johann) I can't identify it further.

Country: A pastoral piece by Keith Jarrett. Whittaker is relatively restrained and, apart from an appassionata tenor blast Themen doesn't stray too far from the composer's intent. 

Groovy Samba: One of Cannonball's Brazilian belters. Soprano sax wailing over Double's Latin beat. Double is superb throughout and he helps himself to a solo along the way.
 
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face: You want ballad playing? You got it with this tenor/piano duo track. Whittaker takes the changes and augments them, diminishes them, inverts them and improves them. Down front the tenor draws out the essence of the tune, the romanticism of the words. Even though only the listener is silently singing, the burgeoning romance indicated by the song's title is there in the playing.

African Marketplace: Seemingly it's obligatory for organ trios to have an African number in their set list (I know of at least one other) and this Abdullah Ibrahim piece is given the full township treatment.

And What if I Don't?: A typical early Herbie groove and there's nothing wrong with that. Originally on Hancock's My Point of View it loses nothing by comparision. The gutsiest of gutsy tenor, the funkiest of funky Hammond I almost said that this was my favourite track on the album but then...

...Sophisticated Lady: This was something else! Totally unaccompanied tenor sax from start to finish. A nonpareil performance that puts Art Themen right up there in contention in the pecking order of tenor players.

The Cape Verdean Blues: A fitting hard bop blast to close a great album. The Horace Silver composition has long been a standard bearer of the genre and all three do it justice.

The album was recorded live on August 15, 2023 at Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho - hence the title.

Highly recommended. Lance

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